And then the terrible truth was revealed.

Chaos erupted. Men rushed toward the gravediggers, others dialed the police. The daughter-in-law, white as chalk, dropped her purse. The mother, panting, stood above the shattered coffin, her fists locked around the axe so hard her knuckles blanched.

“I told you,” she said, voice steady though low, “my son isn’t here.”

Just then, a thin man in the cemetery guard’s uniform stepped out of the crowd. He faltered, then forced himself to speak:

— The body… was taken. At night. Two people arrived… showed documents… said it had to be moved to another city’s morgue for a new examination. I… I didn’t realize this would happen…

His words swept over the mourners like a winter wind. Where had they taken the body? Who were those people?